T La Rock In A Jewish Nursing Home.

22 Oct, 2008 Hip-Hop, Interviews, Something to View

(amazing T La Rock photo via earfuzz)

G at GRANDGOOD unearthed a 1996 article in the New York Times about T La Rock’s time spent in a Jewish nursing home. After receiving brain damage while trying to break up a fight in the Bronx, he moved to the Haym Salomon Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The article covers his time there, and it’s fascinating:

The home observes kosher dietary rules, so T misses his southern-style breakfasts with sausage, bacon, cheese and eggs. Sometimes he goes out to eat with a staff member or on community walks. He is not allowed to go out unsupervised; his short-term memory is too unreliable.

Visible from his window is the parachute jump in Coney Island. Two tables are covered with dozens of cassettes including ones by the Wu Tang Clan and King Just. An envelope on the wall next to his bed holds instructions for eight exercises. He has a couple of stuffed animals.

MORE than 30 photos of staff members and residents, family and friends — many of them rappers and deejays — are taped to the peach-colored wall. ”After looking at them every day, every day I started remembering who they were,” T said. ”It took months.” Some of them included members of the Zulu Nation, Grand Puba and Greg Nice and Smooth B of Nice ‘N Smooth.

Read the full article here.

Oh, also: If you haven’t read Robbie’s interview with T, you’re slipping.